Useless information thread

Had my first taste of Stroh 80 today, can't say it was good. Even if I would've been stopped by customs they would clear me on the basis that it isn't really an alcoholic beverage but more poison. It's going to be fun to whip it out at whenever we have a class party, before the stomach pumping commences.

Had my first taste of Stroh 80 today, can't say it was good. Even if I would've been stopped by customs they would clear me on the basis that it isn't really an alcoholic beverage but more poison. It's going to be fun to whip it out at whenever we have a class party, before the stomach pumping commences.

It is estimated that one percent of the general population are psychopaths - New Criminologist: Understanding Psychopaths

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You hear the same thing from "Occupy Wall St." crowd. ;-)

The sky is blue because molecules from the sun scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from our line of sight.

The sky is blue because molecules from the sun scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from our line of sight.

The sky is blue because molecules from the sun scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from our line of sight.

The sky is blue because molecules from the sun scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from our line of sight.

How do you drink your Champagne (we're hoping it's from a glass!) -- is it a Champagne flute or a Champagne coupe? Nowadays it seems the flute has become the preferred drinking vessel for sparkling wines, but it wasn't always that way. Before the flute arrived on the scene, the coupe was the go-to glass for Champagne. This petite bowl or saucer-shaped glass has a rather sordid origin. But even with its past, we think it's a glass worth looking out for -- and if you don't own any, you should consider buying a set (see our slideshow below).

Legend has it that the coupe glass was molded from Marie Antoinette's left breast, and that she wanted her court to toast her health by drinking from glasses shaped like her bosom. However, the truth is the glass was actually invented long before the reign of the queen, in 1663 in England. It was one of the first, if not the first, glasses invented specifically for drinking Champagne. So there goes that myth. However, there's more to this tale.

History does show that in fact, Marie Antoinette had porcelain bowls molded from her breast. They were designed for drinking milk as part of her "Pleasure Dairy" where the queen and her ladies-in-waiting would dress up as milkmaids and frolic, milking and churning butter all day in her rustically designed hamlet at Versailles. Called jattes tetons, each footed bowl had a nipple at its nadir and was supported by three decorative goat heads (the four original bowls still exist in the Musée National de Céramique de Sèvres in Paris). At the time they were designed, the queen was very much into a back-to-nature philosophy. Her actions helped convince noblewomen breast-feed their babies instead of relying on wet nurses (that fact just makes the bowls seem even stranger!).

So, if we take this into account, it seems like someone must have confused the history of the Champagne coupe glass with the actuality of the milk bowls. But other women in history, including Madam du Pompadour, Madame du Barry, Empress Josephine (Napolean's wife), Diane de Poitiers, Helen of Troy and photographer Lee Miller have all been thought to have inspired breast-shaped glasses. (In 2008 Dom Perignon revealed a glass designed after model Claudia Schiffer's bosom.) So Marie Antoinette's was not the one and only bosom to be equated with the coupe glass, but no one knows for sure what shape actually inspired the inventor of the glass. Anyway it never was the right glass for sparkling wine -- the bubbles dissipate much too quickly with all that surface area leaving us with only the option of chugging or risking the Champagne going flat. But supposedly Champagne wasn't always as fizzy as it is now.

No matter who inspired the coupe glass, it's safe to say its infamy keeps it popular to this day. Especially in the 1930s prohibition-era and in the 1960s, the coupe glass reigned as the choice for sparkling wine even if its design wasn't ideal. With TV shows like "Mad Men" and "Boardwalk Empire," old-fashioned drinks and drinking glasses have been making a comeback. Just stop by any trendy bar in New York City (or any other metropolis) and you'll find cocktails served in the coupe glass. Though the Martini glass with its conical shape has been the choice cocktail glass for quite some time, the coupe is now preferred because it's easier to hold and maneuver without sloshing your beverage everywhere. Its petite size and rounded design is perfect for holding a drink even when your tipsy. The bottom line is we don't care if it's shaped like a breast -- we just like drinking from it!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/marie-antoinette-champagne-coupe_n_1424686.html

I might go down the road of Keith Floyd. Drinking and smoking too much due to loneliness, and ending up dying too young... This isn't starting to go well...

It just doesn't feel good right now. I wish I were more social and being able to carry a conversation in real life, instead of just writing about my many shortcomings on a tennis forum.

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I have not heard of Keith Floyd, but from what I have read of your posts, you are clearly really smart and have a good sense of humour; maybe you just need to keep gaining experience in social situations.

Don't be focused on yourself and be interested in the person you are talking to. I have spent a fair amount of time in Denmark and Sweden, and found Swedes to be, in general, pretty shy. Remember that a lot of people around you feel pretty much the same way. If you are talking to a girl, just talk about things like what she did last weekend, movies, and have fun.

I might go down the road of Keith Floyd. Drinking and smoking too much due to loneliness, and ending up dying too young... This isn't starting to go well...

It just doesn't feel good right now. I wish I were more social and being able to carry a conversation in real life, instead of just writing about my many shortcomings on a tennis forum.

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I, too, am not aware of Mr. Floyd. If you meant Keith Moon of The Who, yes that was a tragically early loss of an enormous talent due to drug abuse and depression. I suggest you read Tony Fletcher's biography of him..."Moon...The life and death of a rock legend". It's a fascinating read about a very complex personality. You might take the book to a coffee house and get immersed there...who knows, there might be someone who catches a glimpse of your reading choice and strike up a conversation about it. Rome wasn't built in a day but this might be a little step you can take to break the ice and meet a new friend! Good luck!

Speaking of Moon and "useless information"...three rock legends are tied together by his place of death: Moon died in a London flat owned by the late Harry Nillson. Cass Elliot of "The Mommas & The Poppas" also died in the very same flat several years before Moon passed away.

Beating the winter blues
January 18, 2013 - 06:27
Article from NTNU Trondheim - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The lack of sufficient daylight in northern climes makes many tired and depressed. But don't worry, researchers have come up with ways to counteract the winter blues.

By: Idun Haugan

The shortest day of the year, December 21, has come and gone, but many months remain before Scandinavians get to bask in the region's signature long summer days. For many who inhabit the northernmost parts of the globe, January is the most difficult month of the year. People feel listless, they lack energy and feel blue. Too little daylight does something to the human body, and we in northern regions can and should take measures to compensate for the lack of daylight.

An invigorating molecule

The sun and its rays play a critical role in human physiology: without exposure to the sun, the body itself cannot produce vitamin D, a substance that helps maintain normal blood levels of phosphorus and calcium. It's possible to compensate for this by eating vitamin D in pill form, or preferably via the food we eat (oily fish, eggs, liver or fish oil).

Daylight also affects the production of substances in the brain that affect moods. A lack of daylight causes the body to produce substances that make us sleepy and lethargic instead of substances that make us feel peppy and alert. Light is an active neurobiological agent that is crucial in regulating cortisol, serotonin and melatonin levels in the brain.

When light hits the retina, it activates photoreceptors (light-sensitive nerve cells), which stimulates the production of serotonin and cortisol. These substances are important in determining our physical and mental health. Insufficient levels of serotonin can result in depression, lack of energy, sleep problems, mood swings and poor impulse control.

The soporific hormone

Melatonin is the body's sleep hormone. It is secreted by the epiphysis, also called the cone gland or pineal gland. This gland secretes melatonin when we are in the dark, which means that during winter's dark days, we produce more melatonin than in the summer. Research suggests that the overproduction of melatonin can lead to fatigue and depression.

When light hits your eyes, melatonin breaks down in the blood and its secretion is halted. Simple light treatment is thus an effective means of stopping the secretion of melatonin. This in turn can reduce fatigue and prevent winter depression. Light therapy lamps have been shown to help people who struggle with the winter blues. A half-hour in front of this kind of special lamp during the working day can work wonders.

A light shock in the morning

Researchers say there are also simple things we can do at home to reduce the ill effects of too little sunlight.

"It is important that the body be exposed to a great deal of light when you first wake up, so your brain gets the signal to stop melatonin production," says Barbara Matusiak, a professor of architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Matusiak studies the effect of light on architecture and thus on the human body.

"The place where you eat breakfast should be well lit, and there should be light on the walls around the table where you eat," Matusiak says. In other words, a relaxed wake-up routine, with soft lighting and candles on the kitchen table, is completely the wrong strategy.

Blue light has the greatest effect on the regulation of hormone production, but blue light is not the cosiest way to light our homes. Matusiak recommends white light, and says we should avoid yellow or golden light, which has a minimal effect on our health.

Trick blinds

An east-facing kitchen may address at least some of these issues, because the sun rises in the east and the kitchen is the room where we often spend our early mornings. Whether or not your bedroom should also face east probably depends on how far north you live, because the more northerly your home, the more likely you are to risk being woken in the middle of the night by the play of the sun's rays on your face.

In the near future, however, you may be able to fool your brain into believing that the sun is coming up, even though it is pitch black outside your bedroom window when the alarm clock goes off. A new lighting technology called OLED (organic light-emitting diodes), which can be produced as a luminous foil, offers the potential to create completely new approaches to lighting. Researchers are developing light-producing blinds that make it look as if the sun shining through your window. If you connect these blinds to a timer, you can program the blinds so it looks like the sun is rising just as your alarm clock rings.

"I've seen prototypes of these blinds, so they'll probably soon be on the market," Matusiak says.

Daylight banished from cities

When functionalism was introduced in the 1930s, architects and urban planners were keen to get the maximum amount of sunlight into living spaces, especially in apartment buildings. Air and light could chase mildew and pests out of the dark corners where they thrived best. There was another factor, too: electricity was expensive. The more daylight could replace electric light, the better.

"So we got gradually better and better guidance, and cheaper and cheaper electricity. We could fill our houses with lots of electric lights, which made us a little less dependent on daylight. But daylight has so many qualities that are impossible to replace. It's not just that the amount of illumination is not the same. Daylight is much more varied in strength, direction and colour variation," Matusiak says.

"All homes and all workplaces should be required to have access to daylight and views to the outside world through windows," she says.

The general policy to increase the densification of city centres also contributes to blocking the sun and daylight from many places. Houses are built tighter and tighter together, leaving little room for natural light. This is one consequence of current housing policies that has received little attention.

Studying Nordic light

Barbara Matusiak is very engaged with issues related to architecture and light, which led her to establish the Light and Colour Group at NTNU's Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art. The group's interdisciplinary research laboratory is equipped with an artificial sun and sky, which enables researchers to study sunlights relationship to buildings and other structures.

Two years ago, Matusiak undertook a research project for which she investigated the difference in the amount of sunlight available at different latitudes.

"The starting point was an allegation by a British professor, who argued that light in Scandinavia is the same as in other places. At first I was annoyed by his argument, because I thought it was clear that he was wrong, but I used his statement as a basis for my for research," she said.

Little, and low-angle sun

The research confirmed Matusiak's assumptions that Nordic light is both different than many other places, and that on an annual average, there is less daylight and sunlight here. In spite of her assumptions, however, she was still surprised by what the weather data showed.

"I found that the frequency of cloudless skies is extremely low in the Nordic countries. This means that we often have clouds that obscure the sun, so that we have little direct sunlight," she said.

Matusiak also tallied up how many hours the sun is above the horizon at different angular degrees. In some places, the sun is at a very low angle, between 0 and 10 degrees above the horizon, for as much as 35 per cent of the time. This means in some places, access to direct sunlight is quite limited for roughly a third of the time, she says.

So if your home lies behind a craggy knoll or if you live in a heavily urbanized area, you may never see the rays of the low-angle sun. In comparison, the sun is only this low in Madrid for about ten per cent of the time.

Little sun, but a more thrilling experience

Matusiak's research also showed that Scandinavians tend to remember sunlight in a special way.

"The light in Scandinavia tends to vary a great deal in colour, and is often found in warmer colour temperatures of pink and red. It makes your experience of the light very strong. Our experience of the light and the sun is also enhanced by the fact that we often have bad weather and little sun. This causes us remember our positive experiences with the sun especially well, even though these moments are much shorter than elsewhere. We are generally more sensitive to light in the Nordic region," Matusiak says.

Things that are rare are always extra attractive. And during the winter, when our bodies yearn for a glimpse of that golden orb, it's more important than ever to address our need to soak up the sun's heavenly rays.http://sciencenordic.com/beating-winter-blues

I like Ferguson and watched his shows from Scotland (a rebroadcast from last year, I think) about a month ago. Ferguson was very funny and Mila Kunis was very hot.

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Yes, his trip to Scotland happened prior to Michael Clarke Duncan's untimely death. I, very much, miss that guy! I'm sure CraigyFerg wiped a tear or three from his face after seeing any of their fun times shared during that week.

I once watched a documentary about Joe Namath (on HBO, I think), and that era of football looked like it was much more fun.

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True that! Broadway Joe had flair nailed but there were a lot of other colorful characters playing on Sunday. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, John Matuszak, Ben Davidson, Ted "The Mad Stork" Hendricks, Bubba Smith, just to name a few. Now it's the NFL...the No Fun League!

Who: Martina Hingis versus Anna KournikovaWhen: During and after an exhibition match in Santiago, Chile (won by Kournikova, 6-4, 6-4), on November 28, 2000What went down: After a dispute over a line call, Hingis made Kournikova cry on the court, declaring, "Do you think you are the queen? Because I am the real queen?" In the locker room, the players threw trophies and vases of flowers at each other.What makes it special: (1) They were doubles partners at the time. (2) Kournikova actually won.

Beating the winter blues
January 18, 2013 - 06:27
Article from NTNU Trondheim - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The lack of sufficient daylight in northern climes makes many tired and depressed. But don't worry, researchers have come up with ways to counteract the winter blues.

By: Idun Haugan

The shortest day of the year, December 21, has come and gone, but many months remain before Scandinavians get to bask in the region's signature long summer days. For many who inhabit the northernmost parts of the globe, January is the most difficult month of the year. People feel listless, they lack energy and feel blue. Too little daylight does something to the human body, and we in northern regions can and should take measures to compensate for the lack of daylight.

An invigorating molecule

The sun and its rays play a critical role in human physiology: without exposure to the sun, the body itself cannot produce vitamin D, a substance that helps maintain normal blood levels of phosphorus and calcium. It's possible to compensate for this by eating vitamin D in pill form, or preferably via the food we eat (oily fish, eggs, liver or fish oil).

Daylight also affects the production of substances in the brain that affect moods. A lack of daylight causes the body to produce substances that make us sleepy and lethargic instead of substances that make us feel peppy and alert. Light is an active neurobiological agent that is crucial in regulating cortisol, serotonin and melatonin levels in the brain.

When light hits the retina, it activates photoreceptors (light-sensitive nerve cells), which stimulates the production of serotonin and cortisol. These substances are important in determining our physical and mental health. Insufficient levels of serotonin can result in depression, lack of energy, sleep problems, mood swings and poor impulse control.

The soporific hormone

Melatonin is the body's sleep hormone. It is secreted by the epiphysis, also called the cone gland or pineal gland. This gland secretes melatonin when we are in the dark, which means that during winter's dark days, we produce more melatonin than in the summer. Research suggests that the overproduction of melatonin can lead to fatigue and depression.

When light hits your eyes, melatonin breaks down in the blood and its secretion is halted. Simple light treatment is thus an effective means of stopping the secretion of melatonin. This in turn can reduce fatigue and prevent winter depression. Light therapy lamps have been shown to help people who struggle with the winter blues. A half-hour in front of this kind of special lamp during the working day can work wonders.

A light shock in the morning

Researchers say there are also simple things we can do at home to reduce the ill effects of too little sunlight.

"It is important that the body be exposed to a great deal of light when you first wake up, so your brain gets the signal to stop melatonin production," says Barbara Matusiak, a professor of architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Matusiak studies the effect of light on architecture and thus on the human body.

"The place where you eat breakfast should be well lit, and there should be light on the walls around the table where you eat," Matusiak says. In other words, a relaxed wake-up routine, with soft lighting and candles on the kitchen table, is completely the wrong strategy.

Blue light has the greatest effect on the regulation of hormone production, but blue light is not the cosiest way to light our homes. Matusiak recommends white light, and says we should avoid yellow or golden light, which has a minimal effect on our health.

Trick blinds

An east-facing kitchen may address at least some of these issues, because the sun rises in the east and the kitchen is the room where we often spend our early mornings. Whether or not your bedroom should also face east probably depends on how far north you live, because the more northerly your home, the more likely you are to risk being woken in the middle of the night by the play of the sun's rays on your face.

In the near future, however, you may be able to fool your brain into believing that the sun is coming up, even though it is pitch black outside your bedroom window when the alarm clock goes off. A new lighting technology called OLED (organic light-emitting diodes), which can be produced as a luminous foil, offers the potential to create completely new approaches to lighting. Researchers are developing light-producing blinds that make it look as if the sun shining through your window. If you connect these blinds to a timer, you can program the blinds so it looks like the sun is rising just as your alarm clock rings.

"I've seen prototypes of these blinds, so they'll probably soon be on the market," Matusiak says.

Daylight banished from cities

When functionalism was introduced in the 1930s, architects and urban planners were keen to get the maximum amount of sunlight into living spaces, especially in apartment buildings. Air and light could chase mildew and pests out of the dark corners where they thrived best. There was another factor, too: electricity was expensive. The more daylight could replace electric light, the better.

"So we got gradually better and better guidance, and cheaper and cheaper electricity. We could fill our houses with lots of electric lights, which made us a little less dependent on daylight. But daylight has so many qualities that are impossible to replace. It's not just that the amount of illumination is not the same. Daylight is much more varied in strength, direction and colour variation," Matusiak says.

"All homes and all workplaces should be required to have access to daylight and views to the outside world through windows," she says.

The general policy to increase the densification of city centres also contributes to blocking the sun and daylight from many places. Houses are built tighter and tighter together, leaving little room for natural light. This is one consequence of current housing policies that has received little attention.

Studying Nordic light

Barbara Matusiak is very engaged with issues related to architecture and light, which led her to establish the Light and Colour Group at NTNU's Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art. The group's interdisciplinary research laboratory is equipped with an artificial sun and sky, which enables researchers to study sunlights relationship to buildings and other structures.

Two years ago, Matusiak undertook a research project for which she investigated the difference in the amount of sunlight available at different latitudes.

"The starting point was an allegation by a British professor, who argued that light in Scandinavia is the same as in other places. At first I was annoyed by his argument, because I thought it was clear that he was wrong, but I used his statement as a basis for my for research," she said.

Little, and low-angle sun

The research confirmed Matusiak's assumptions that Nordic light is both different than many other places, and that on an annual average, there is less daylight and sunlight here. In spite of her assumptions, however, she was still surprised by what the weather data showed.

"I found that the frequency of cloudless skies is extremely low in the Nordic countries. This means that we often have clouds that obscure the sun, so that we have little direct sunlight," she said.

Matusiak also tallied up how many hours the sun is above the horizon at different angular degrees. In some places, the sun is at a very low angle, between 0 and 10 degrees above the horizon, for as much as 35 per cent of the time. This means in some places, access to direct sunlight is quite limited for roughly a third of the time, she says.

So if your home lies behind a craggy knoll or if you live in a heavily urbanized area, you may never see the rays of the low-angle sun. In comparison, the sun is only this low in Madrid for about ten per cent of the time.

Little sun, but a more thrilling experience

Matusiak's research also showed that Scandinavians tend to remember sunlight in a special way.

"The light in Scandinavia tends to vary a great deal in colour, and is often found in warmer colour temperatures of pink and red. It makes your experience of the light very strong. Our experience of the light and the sun is also enhanced by the fact that we often have bad weather and little sun. This causes us remember our positive experiences with the sun especially well, even though these moments are much shorter than elsewhere. We are generally more sensitive to light in the Nordic region," Matusiak says.

Things that are rare are always extra attractive. And during the winter, when our bodies yearn for a glimpse of that golden orb, it's more important than ever to address our need to soak up the sun's heavenly rays.http://sciencenordic.com/beating-winter-blues

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Living in Seattle lack of sun is a cancer that only money and a moving truck can cure. May heaven help me to leave!!

Latvian player Ernests Gulbis has developed a cult following since breaking into the ATP Tour's top 50 in the world as a 19-year-old in 2007.

A good-looking guy with russet-coloured locks, the 6-foot-3 Gulbis has an interesting family background. His divorced parents are Milena, a well-known actress and daughter of famous Latvian film director Uldis Puctitis, and Ainars, a very successful businessman and ex-basketball player whose own father, Alvils, was a starter on the Soviet Union team that won the 1958 European basketball championship.

Gulbis fans had hoped that Ernests (all Latvian male names end in 's' - think of retired hockey goalie Arturs Irbe), who was named after literary giant Ernest Hemingway, would make headlines for his tennis accomplishments, not what happened this week in Stockholm. He was there playing in the ATP 250 tournament until being eliminated 6-2, 6-4 by Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday.

Ernests, 21, may have had other things on his mind after reportedly being arrested on Sunday night, and then spending time in jail before being released on Monday morning, for attempted solicitation of a prostitute. In Sweden, strangely enough, the criminal burden is on the person soliciting sex, not the prostitute offering the service.

Gulbis and a friend were apparently caught as they entered a Stockholm hotel in the company of prostitutes and eventually, according to Swedish press accounts, he copped a plea and was fined 2,500 Swedish Kronor ($382 Canadian).

An ATP official confirmed that Gulbis did not do any media after his loss on Wednesday to Lopez, and declined the single request for an interview.

Currently ranked No. 93, Gulbis, who was as high as No. 38 in the summer of 2008, shares an August/September 1988, birth date with emerging talents Juan Martin del Potro, the US Open champ who is ranked No. 5, and the No. 13-ranked Marin Cilic. But of late, he has been going in the opposite direction.

Canadian fans got a look at the inscrutable "Ernie" in the first round of the 2008 Rogers Cup in Toronto when he managed to blow a 5-1 third-set lead against one of the sport's more better known 'head cases,' Jose Acasuso, eventually losing 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-5.

With a big serve and huge ground strokes, Gulbis seems to have the goods, except for an insatiable urge to hit excessive and often ill-timed drop shots.

Needless to say, there has been endless chatter on internet tennis sites about the Gulbis incident in Stockholm, with one of the most amusing comments referencing two of the sports best-known Casanovas, Marat Safin and Carlos Moya. It read, "Doesn't the ATP have some kind of mentoring program. I would have thought that on day one, someone (Marat? Moya?) would have pulled Ernie over to the side, slung an arm over his shoulder, and schooled him on these matters. Oh well, I just hope Ernie at least had the sense not to try to pay with a credit card."http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/gulbis-gets-caught-in-stockholm/article791600/

I just watched Hitchcock's "Topaz" on cable, and thought it was a very good Cold War era spy film. It also had some old footage of Copenhagen at the beginning. I assume Danish spies were better back then.

NEW ORLEANS March 2, 2013 (AP)
The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says BP hampered efforts to stop the resulting gusher of oil by misleading government officials about how many barrels of oil were flowing each day from the damaged well on the Gulf floor.

The Transocean corporation's assertions were filed Friday in federal court in New Orleans, where a civil began last week to determine percentages of blame and how much BP, Transocean and others will pay for the April 2010 catastrophe that killed 11 workers and sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf for 87 days.

"In short, beginning in late April and continuing throughout May 2010, BP repeatedly represented to source control decision-makers, Congress, the press and the public that 5,000 bpd was its best estimate of the flow rate," the Transocean filing said. "It withheld numerous documents, analysis and estimates that would have allowed those outside BP to realize that BP's flow rate claims were misleading and fraudulent."

Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, says the leak could have been stopped two months earlier. The motion filed Friday seeks to limit or eliminate Transocean's liability for damages, and outlines a case for collecting damages from BP itself.

Transocean's filing says federal officials attempted a method of stopping the flow that was destined to fail because oil was spewing at a greater rate than BP was publicly acknowledging. That method, known as "top kill," involved plugging the well by injecting drilling mud and solid material.

The attempt failed. Transocean, citing various documents and evidence including BP's recent guilty plea to criminal charges, said BP was well aware of estimates that much more oil was flowing, varying from 70,000 to 100,000 barrels per day.

Ultimately, a device known as a "capping stack" stopped the flow.

Transocean said that, but for BP's actions, the oil flow could have been stopped sometime in May. BP has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges and has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses, including $4 billion in criminal penalties.

In the trial that began Monday, Gulf Coast states and individuals and businesses hope to convince a federal judge that the company and its partners in the drilling project are liable for much more in civil damages under the Clean Water Act and other environmental regulations. BP could be on the hook for nearly $18 billion if a judge finds that it acted with "gross negligence."

San Francisco. It’s a magical name for foodies, instantly conjuring saliva-inducing images of chewy sourdough bread, delicate dim sum morsels, the freshest fruits and vegetables from the nearby San Joaquin Valley, and enormous, gut-busting burritos. The best burrito, in fact, this side of anywhere.

Whoa. What a minute. Hold on there, muchacho. Burritos? Since when?

Well, to be precise, since Sept. 26, 1961, when the first burrito now known as the San Francisco burrito was served up at El Faro, a taqueria in the city’s heavily Latin Mission District.

OK, fine. But even if you buy the argument that San Francisco is the best food town in this country — including You-Know-Who back there on the Hudson — can San Francisco really claim to be home to the best burrito in the land? Better than L.A.? Better than Texas, or Arizona? Best burrito on the planet, even?

Damn straight.

Once you’ve chowed down on a San Francisco burrito, or, more locally, the Mission-style burrito, you’ll agree that there’s nothing quite like it anywhere. If you’re a burrito devotee, then a visit to the Mission District is de rigueur, the gustatory equivalent of an art lover’s pilgrimage to Florence, or a blind man traveling in hope to Lourdes.

Plan on making it a lengthy visit, too, because the taquerias of the Mission are everywhere. Nearly all of them serve burritos, and no two are exactly alike.

People who know about these things say the Mission-style burrito is unmatched for its sheer size, and for the quality of the ingredients that add to its cylindrical heft.

This, from Charlie Hodgkins over at Burritoeater.com:

“A Mission-style burrito stands apart from its stripped-down cousins for its often outsized proportions – the result of a jumbo tortilla and the inclusion of rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and a host of veggie elements, from avocado and pico de gallo to jalapeño pepper and lettuce.” (Hodgkins considers the inclusion of lettuce a minor crime, but, well, that’s why there’s chocolate and vanilla, right?)

Local chef Afreen Wahab, who runs the catering service/cooking school Cuisine Afreen, prizes the Mission-style for its versatility.

“(It can be) personalized to taste by choosing different condiments,” she says. “It is a humungous burrito, but very fulfilling and cost effective... I suppose if I could take artistic license, I would call it ‘one size does not fit all.’ Depending on the individual palate, the consumer gets to design their particular style of burrito to flavor and taste.”

You get the idea. It’s big and it’s tasty, and you get a lot for your money.

Contrast the Mission-style burrito, that veritable tin foil-wrapped banquet, with the so-called San Diego burrito (also known, arrogantly, as the “California” burrito). Not only does the San Diego lack the aforementioned tasty ingredients, but it actually swaps out the rice for french fries. San Diegans can get a bit shirty when it comes to defending their scrawny little burrito, and this has caused some bad blood between the towns.

In fact, the Mission-style burrito is so packed with good things it is the only one of its kind that comes wrapped in tin foil. You can thank your Reynolds wrap that it is: You’d be wearing most of it if it weren’t.

While San Franciscans can brag about having the best burrito around, we can’t claim to have invented it, as is occasionally done. The exact origin of the burrito is hard to pin down, but it almost certainly came out of the Mexican border towns during the first half of the 20th century. Because it was easy to make, with portable ingredients — remember, these were much simpler affairs than the Mission-style — the burrito became a staple of ranchers, cowboys, and others who moved around a lot.

(You can check here and here for histories that, with a few variations on the theme, are fairly consistent.)

For many a month I have found my favorite source of renutrition after a heavy night of exercise at my job as a pedicabber in Orlando comes from the local California Burrito Express...it is their chimichanga, a deep fried burrito with steak, beans and cheese dressed with lettuce, sour cream, pico de gallo and guacomole. Unfortunately, they have had a downturn in business that results in them shutting down before I reach them on my commute. I have now resorted to a nearby-to-work arepas truck and order their chicken/Gouda arepa...yum yum!